From Doubt to Deliverance: A Testimony of Faith and the Power of Believing God’s Way

A Personal Story

Have you ever paused to reflect on how God has changed your life for good? Many of us carry powerful testimonies of transformation—stories of being pulled from darkness into light, from skepticism into deep, enduring faith.

We love to hear about the rags to riches stories; delivery from greater crisis heightens the triumph. But God doesn’t want us to suffer in pain and grief. This is not the way. The most important testimonies are the ones that demonstrate how God’s way works best without pain and grief, being raised in a god-fearing home and church; the subtle struggles and hidden sins that must be grappled with; the very real experience of spiritual warfare for your soul, the attacks on your mind and spirituality.

Personally, I was raised in a stable, moral home with Christian values. But my Dad was a skeptic, agnostic, and my Mom had come from a religious/superstitious upbringing. We did not talk about God or salvation. My mom sent us to church occasionally for religious influence because it was good for us. After sixth grade, I stopped going to church.

👣 My Journey: From Doubt To Deliverance

By the time I began college, I was an atheist. Before that, I was agnostic—unsure, unconvinced, unanchored. I asked questions. I read books. When I went to church, I quizzed the Sunday school teacher. In high school, my Christian friends would say, “Just believe.” But I didn’t want something to “just believe” in. I already did that with Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. I wanted something real to believe in.

I felt that if there was a God, I wanted to know who He was and what He expected of me. But I couldn’t find satisfying answers or reasons to believe.

One week before college, I reached a conclusion that sealed my skepticism: you cannot find answers for something that does not exist. That officially justified my atheism.

Four months later, everything changed. My girlfriend called to tell me she had become a Christian. What?! She gave me the name of a man who answered my questions. That moment reignited my search for truth, and I joined a Bible study with guys who were involved in Christian apologetics—finding answers to questions about God and the Bible. The answers were there all the time; I just didn’t meet the right people to talk in high school.

🛑 The Difference Between Devil’s Belief and Salvation Belief

Once I was convinced there was a God, I believed in Him, but I struggled with doubting my salvation. This was especially troubling when I read James 2:19: “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.”

The question to ask is what’s the difference between the belief of demons and the belief of saved Christians? The devils believed because they were with God and Jesus at one time in heaven. They lived with Him and served Him.

So, the devils believed in God’s existence, but they rejected His way. They do not want God’s will to be done in their lives because they do not believe His will is good for them. They want to do things their own way. A good example of this are the people who experience God’s judgment in the last days. Revelation 9:20–21 says,

“And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.”

These people knew God, and believed God was real. They saw His judgment. But they did not believe His way was best for them.

This is why Jesus said in Luke 13:3,

“I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.”

What is Repentance?

Repentance is a change in what you believe. For the devils, it would require them to believe God’s way is better than their way. That would be repentance. It would require those described in Revelation 9 to believe that God’s will is best for them. But they will not, so they continue to serve other gods and sin.

What do you believe about God? Do you believe that His way is better than your way?

You may be thinking, I thought repentance was what I do. No. The fruit of repentance is what you do.

Repentance is changing what you believe. The fruit is the result of what you believe. People have a tendency to focus on what they do rather than what they believe.

In the case of salvation, when we believe that Christ alone must save us because there’s nothing we can do good enough to gain His favor, then we know that trusting God to save us is the only way to be saved.

To rely on works—the fruit of repentance—for salvation will fail. Jesus said repentance, not works, is required to be saved.

The Example Of Abraham

To believe means to be fully persuaded (Romans 4:21), as Abraham was. That’s what counted for righteousness.

Romans 1–6 says,

Romans 4:21–22 says,

And then Paul explains how Abraham’s is for us in Romans 4:23,

✝️ Salvation is by Faith, Not by Works

Scripture is crystal clear on this point:

• 📖 John 3:16–18, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
• 📖 Ephesians 2:8–9, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
• 📖 Romans 3:28, “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.”
• 📖 Galatians 2:16, “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” Belief is not a work!
• 📖 Romans 11:6, “And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.”

I struggled for a while with what I now call subtle works—trying to feel sincere enough, believe enough, or be trusting enough. But it was never enough. Whenever you have to ask, is it enough? The answer will always be no. This will always cause doubt.

When we realize this and believe there is nothing we can do that is good enough to be saved, then we know that Jesus alone must save us as we are. This makes salvation 100% mercy and grace because we are 100% unworthy. This is why salvation is by grace without works.

He does all the work despite us being unworthy and not good enough. All He asks of us is to believe that He alone must save us, that He alone can, and that He alone must, and that His way is the best way.

Because salvation is by grace, He gets all the glory and all the credit. We are simply the undeserving benefactors. Salvation is a gift given to us that was bought and made possible only because God loved us enough to offer this gift to us totally free.

If you believe His will is better than your will, the gift is yours.

And that’s where many people stumble. Like the devils, they believe God exists, but they don’t want God’s way. They don’t trust His will for their lives because they don’t believe it is best for them. Like the devils, they believe their will is better than God’s will. They believe happiness, safety, and security is better achieved their way than God’s way.

💡 When Salvation Is Real

The night I was saved, I was at the end of myself. I had struggled with trying to settle the nagging doubt of my salvation. God brought me to a point of giving up, and I said, “God, I quit.” That’s what God was waiting for. I stopped trying to feel good enough and be sincere enough, and say all the right words enough. At that point, I heard the words in my mind, that’s what I was waiting for.

I was saved—and it was settled. I believed everything. I wanted God to save me. I believed His Word. There was nothing I didn’t believe. The problem for me was not doubting Him, the problem was doubting myself.

• Was I believing enough? No.
• Was I trusting enough. No.
• Was I sincere enough? No.
• Was I asking enough? No.
• Was I using the right words? No.

I knew God could save. The nagging question in my mind was did He save me?

🔐 Assurance in the Son

Being the skeptic I was, I tested my confidence and assurance by trying to deny my salvation. I couldn’t. I was saved. Why? Because I believe everything about God. I was fully persuaded that His way was the best way. I wanted His will to be done in my life.

Once I believed that I could not do anything good enough to be saved and would have to trust Him to be merciful and gracious, I was saved. He gave me eternal life. I was born again. I was heaven-bound.

1 John 5:12–13 brings it home:

“He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”

🙌 Experiencing Change

I was changed. I was fully changed in my heart, soul, and mind.

Have you ever experienced the mercy, grace, and peace of God? Do you have confidence that He has saved you? Are you struggling with doubt?

I hope my example can help you resolve your doubt. Just stop trusting in yourself. Admit to yourself and to God, you are not worthy to be saved, you do not deserve His gift of eternal life, and there is nothing you can do that would be good enough to convince God He should save you. Instead, believe in God’s way, trust His mercy and grace, and you will understand how my doubt was obliterated.

Share Your Experience

1. Write your answers to the five questions.
   • When were you saved?
   • What helped you to be saved? (people, places, events)
   • Why did you want to be saved?
   • How were you saved?
   • When and why should others be saved?
2. Open your favorite AI assistant like ChatGPT.
3. Copy and paste your answers into the submission field.
4. Tell your AI assistant to “Write the following outline of answers into a 300-word explanation about my salvation.”
5. Review and edit.
6. Tell your AI assistant to “Check the grammar, flow, and clarity. Write in a friendly, casual tone for my high school friends.”
7. Share your testimony at least once every day as a printed tract, posted on Instagram, or talking to someone.

Go Further

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